Picnic cases



M. A. HASSID PICNIC CASES Oct. 30, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 28, 1953 ATTORNEY Oct. 30, 1956 x1 Filed April 28, 195 3 M. A. HASSID 2,768,718

PICNIC CASES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY Aw ATTORNEY 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR MflUR/Cf fizsem- Hess/D M. A. HASS] D PICNIC CASES v .U I III Oct. 30, 1956 Fii'ed. April 28, 195;

United States Patent PICNIC CASES Maurice Albert Hassid, London, England, assignor, by mesne assignments, to N. S. F. Limited, Keighley, Yorkshire, England, a British company Application April 28, 1953, Serial No. $521,703

6 Claims. (Cl. 190-11) This invention relates to a picnic case and has for its object to provide an improved construction of picnic case which is capable of conveniently accommodating vacuum flasks, food containers, plates and other articles, and also capable of being converted into a table or tray.

The invention consists of a picnic case comprising two halves hinged together and so constructed that when in closed position form a closed container with a single carrying handle and when in fully opened position form a tray or table with a carrying handle at each end, said case being provided with internal fittings adapted to form seating for the contents of the case when the case is closed to form a container and to serve as supporting legs when the case is fully opened to form a tray or table.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood one particular embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure l is an inverted plan view of the case in its fully opened position.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the case in opened position and converted into a table or tray,

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a similar-section to Figure 3 on an enlarged scale of one corner of the case in closed position (indicated by full and chain dotted lines in Figure 3) and Figure 5 is a section on an enlarged scale of the means for locking the case in fully opened position.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of the case on an enlarged scale, and

Fig. 7 is a side view of Fig. 6.

Referring to these drawings the picnic case comprises two square tray-like halves 6 and 7 of the same depth and of identical shape and construction and hinged together at their adjacent sides by hinges 8 in such a manner that when turned towards each other about said hinges into the fully closed position form an enclosed container as shown by full and chain dotted lines on the left of Figure 2, and when turned away from each other into the fully opened position lie side-by-side in the same plane to form a tray or table, as shown in full lines in Figure 2. Each of said halves 6 and 7 is provided on the side opposite to the hinged side with a handle portion 9 so arranged that when the case is closed the handle portion of one half 6 cooperates with the handle portion of the other half 7 to form a single carrying handle for the case or container, as shown on the left of Figure 2, and when the case is in fully opened position the handle portions 9 of the halves 6 and 7 form separate carrying handles at each end of the tray or table thus formed, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Each of the two halves 6 and 7 is provided with a pair of interlocking members 10, the members 10 of one half 6 being adapted to interlock with the members 10 of the other half 7 when said halves 6 and 7 are closed to form the container, the purpose of said interlocking members being to hold the container in closed position. The interlocking members are each provided with a lug 11 and a corresponding recess 12, the lugs 11 of the interlocking members 10 fitted in one half of the casing being arranged to engage in the recess 12 in the interlocking members fitted in the other half of the casing when the two halves are closed together to form a closed container. Each of the lugs 11 is provided on one side with a notch 13 into which engages an arcuate portion of a spring 14, fitted in a key-hole recess in one wall of each of the recesses 1.2, when the case is closed. Thus, the interlocking members 10 interlock with a snap action.

In a transverse channel or slot in each of the interlocking members 10 is a slide member 15 adapted to be moved from the position shown on the left hand side of Figure 3 to the position shown at the right hand side of Figure 3 to hold the frame elements or fittings 16 in the open position, that is when opened out to form legs as shown in Figure 2. Figs. 6 and 7 show slide member 15 and spring 14 in detail. These fralme elements or fittings 16 are pivotally mounted by an arm 16a mounted in a channel or slot formed between the interlock-ing members 16 and the wall of the casing. The frame elements or fittings 16 are arranged to lie fiat in the bottom of each of the container halves 6 and 7 as shown in Figure 1 in which position they form seatings for the contents of the container, such as for example, thermos flasks, plates and other containers shown in chain dotted lines in Figure l. Preferably one of the fittings 16 is provided with a flexible adjustable strap 17 for holding plates or dishes 18 rigidly in position in the manner illustrated in Figure l.

The outer surfaces of the hinged end walls of each of the halves 6 and 7 are provided with undulations 19 which, when the halves 6 and 7 are opened out as shown in Figures 1 and 2, hold the halves 6 and 7 against relative lateral displacement and thus prevent strains and stresses on the hinge members 8 when the device is used as a tray or table.

A locking member (Figure 5) is provided in each of the halves 6 and 7 for locking said halves in open position when the device is used as a tray or table. Said locking members each comprise a substantially U-shaped element 26 slidably mounted in a channel 21, formed in a wall of one half of the case, by means of one leg 20a of the U-shaped element. Said leg 20a is provided at its outer free end with an enlargement 20b and the channel 21 is provided with an abutment 7a whereby said U-shaped element is prevented from being completely removed from said channel 21. When the two halves 6 and 7 of the case are to be locked in the open position (Figures 1 and 2) the locking member is slid out of the channel 21 from the position shown in chain dotted lines in Figure 5 then rotated about the axis of the leg 29a and finally pushed back into the channel 21 in the position shown in full lines in Figure 5 whereby the adjacent side Walls 7b and 6a of the two halves 7 and 6 respectively are locked between the legs of the U-shaped element.

What I claim is:

1. A picnic case comprising two tray-like members hinged together and movable with respect to one another between an aligned position in which the two tray-like members form a table top and a position closely together in which the said members form a case, a frame member for each of said tray-like members for receiving contents placed in the case, each of said frame members having a pair of open frame cradle-forming leg parts for cradling the contents of said case, a part connecting said leg parts and a hinge part, and a hinge part on each of said traylike members cooperating with the hinge part of the frame member attached to the respective tray-like mem bet, the frame member in each tray-like member being thereby movable between a case contents cradle-forming position in said tray-like member to a support forming position extending from said tray-like member in which latter position each leg part fonms a leg for the said traylike members in the table top position.

2. A picnic case comprising two tray-like members, hinge means hinging together adjacent side walls of said members for movement with respect to one another between an aligned position in which the two tray-like members form a table top and a position closely together in which the said members form a case, a frame member for receiving contents placed in said case for each of said tray-like members, each of said frame members having a pair of open frame cradle-forming leg parts for cradling said contents, a part connecting said leg parts and a hinge part, a hinge part on each of said tray-like members cooperating with the hinge part on the frame member attached to said tray-like member, the frame member in each tray-like member being thereby movable between a case contents cradle forming position in the respective tray-like member to a support forming position extending from said tray-like member in which position each leg part forms a leg for the said tray-like members in the table top position, and locking means movable between an unlocked position and a locked position embracing the adjacent hinge side walls of the tray-like members when said members are in aligned position.

3. A picnic case comprising two tray-like members, each comprising a base and upstanding side walls, said members being hinged together along one side wall and movable with respect to one another between an aligned position in which the tray-like members form a table top, the base of said members cooperating as leaves of said table, and a position closely together in which the said members cooperate to form the two halves of a case, a seating means for receiving contents placed in the case adjustably attached in each tray-like member, each of said seating means being movable between a first ease contents receiving position lying in its respective member and a second position extending from its said member to form a support for said tray-like members in the table top position, and open-ended table top locking pieces movable between an unlocked position and a locked position embracing the adjacent hinged side walls of the tray-like members when said tray-like members are aligned.

4. A picnic case according to claim 3 in which the side wall of one tray-like member hinged to the other tray-like member has bores therein and the locking pieces include headed limbs, each bore slidably receiving one limb of a locking piece, each bore at its mouth being formed with a limb retaining lip for engaging the head on the respective limb, each of said bores being situated normal to the base of the respective tray-like member and each of said bores being spaced from the inner side of said side wall by a distance equal to the span of an open end of said locking pieces.

5. A picnic case comprising two tray-like members hinged together and movable with respect to one another between an aligned position in which the two tray-like members form a table top and a position closely together in which the said members form a case, a seating means for receiving contents placed in the case adjustably attached to each tray-like member, each of said seating means being movable between a first contents receiving position lying in its tray-like member and a second position extending from its tray-like member to support said tray-like members in the table top position, and an interlocking member on each tray-like member, each interlocking member in the closed case forming position of the traylike members engaging an interlocking member on the other tray-like member, each such interlocking member having a lug, a recess and a spring adjacent said recess, the lug on each interlocking member in the closed position of said members being resiliently maintained in the recess of the interlocking vmember of the other tray-like member by the spring adjacent said recess.

6. A picnic case comprising two tray-like members, each comprising a base and upstanding side walls, said members being hinged together along one side wall and movable With respect to one another between a position in which the hinged side walls abut and in which the traylike members are aligned to form a table top and a position in which the tray-like members cooperate as complementary halves to form a case, undulations along the faces of the hinged side walls which abut in the table top forming position of the members, the crests of the undulations on one side Wall engaging the troughs of the undulations on said other side wall when the faces abut, and a seating means for receiving contents placed in the case adjustably attached to each tray-like member, the said seating means being movable between a first contents receiving position lying in its tray-like member and a second position extending from its tray-like member to support said tray-like members in the table top position thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 71,223 Roulstone Nov.l9, 1867 134,149 King Dec. 24, 1872 458,930 Wood Sept. 1, 1891 564,711 OBrien July 28, 1896 908,487 Nail Jan. 5, 1909 1,444,455 Brown et al Feb. 6, 1923 1,476,144 Calvert Dec. 4, 1923 

